The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) welcomes the University of Cape Town Libraries (UCTL) this month, as they become the Coalition’s newest Full Member.
The not-for-profit DPC is an international advocate and catalyst for digital preservation, helping members around the world to deliver resilient long-term access to digital content and services through community engagement, targeted advocacy work, training and workforce development, capacity building, good practice and standards, and through good management and governance. Its vision is a secure digital legacy.
With core values to protect and responsibly use its assets and resources, the UCTL Digital Library Services (DLS) department has been given a remit to preserve, promote, exhibit and provide access to the University’s corporate memory, historic and cultural collections in digital format.
“Our move to join the DPC is driven by the strategic need to sustainably make research resources and their data available to communities worldwide," explains Niklas Zimmer, manager of DLS.
“It is encouraged and supported by Open Sciences practices, as well as the decolonization of the University of Cape Town - allowing for discoverability, access and reusability of institutional outputs and collections. Digital preservation ensures the availability of our resources in perpetuity as openly accessible, citable scholarly resources which increase the global stature and recognition of UCT as a university for Africa. Being part of the global community of the DPC enables us to make significant, lasting contributions to relevant Sustainable Development Goals in Africa, which rely on perpetual access to trusted scientific and cultural data. Most importantly, through joining the DPC, we are opening the doors to an immense global community of experts who are eager to help us with developing skills for which there are currently virtually no training opportunities in Southern Africa."
As Full Members, UCTL joins the DPC’s Representative Council which ensures that the Coalition remains tightly focussed on its strategic plan to deliver resilient, long-term access to valuable digital content and that the strategic plan remains relevant to members' emerging needs.
William Kilbride, Executive Director of the DPC was delighted with the news, saying: “We are very excited to welcome the University of Cape Town’s Libraries to the Coalition and look forward to working with and learning from Niklas and the team, as ambassadors and conveners of local communities of digital preservation practice across southern Africa.”
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